Mayor Keith Tymchuk bests Merv Cloe in Reedsport mayor race

Related Media

REEDSPORT — Mayor Keith Tymchuk defeated challenger Merv Cloe, while a slate of Cloe’s allies running to limit the scope of government won one of three council races.

Tymchuk, 54, won a sixth term as mayor with 66 percent of the vote to Cloe’s 34 percent, according to late Tuesday election results. Tymchuk collected 1,119 votes to Cloe’s 579 votes.

“I’m very pleased. This is a statement that Reedsport will move forward rather than backwards,” Tymchuk said.

The outcome represented a slight improvement for Cloe, who received 29 percent of the vote when he ran against Tymchuk in 2010.

Cloe, 85, said he will not run again, though he reaffirmed that he thinks Reedsport needs to change direction.

“I’m disappointed at the results,” he said. “Our community has been spending too much money.”

Frank Barth Jr., Cloe’s ally in a group called the New Majority, gained a council seat by defeating Ed O’Carroll for Position One.

In the two other council races, the New Majority candidates lost.

DeeDee Murphy beat Edward Spailone for Position Two, and Linda McCollum topped Charles Wade for Position Three. None of the candidates aside from Tymchuk had political experience.

The New Majority candidates ran to uphold Measure 10-119. The measure was passed in May to roll back water and sewer rates and require a public vote on all tax or fee increases.

The group received a loss last week when a Douglas County Circuit Court judge nullified the rate rollback. The city must maintain rates high enough to repay loans it took to build water and sewer plants, Judge Randolph Garrison ruled.

The judge let stand the vote requirement, though the city may contest that provision in court.